This invention relates generally to the continuous monitoring device for maintaining a continuous surveillance of a hospital bed. It allows nurses or other hospital personnel at a remote station to instantly tell when a patient leaves his hospital bed.
Many problems arise when elderly patients are bedridden in hospitals and nursing homes. One particular problem that may often occur, particularly with senile patients or other elderly patients who become disoriented, is that they frequently get out of bed, often with the intent to leave the hospital, and fall and hurt themselves.
The frequency of such accidents is compounded by the fact that hospital personnel are busy and cannot afford to continuously monitor the presence or absence of a single patient in his or her bed. Therefore, there are inevitable times when the patient will be left alone in his room, hoping that he will stay put.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring system which will provide continuous surveillance of a hospital bed in order to allow nurses or other staff at a remote station to instantly tell whether the patient is in his bed, or attempting to leave it.
While there have been some such systems developed in the past, for the most part they are extremely expensive and such expenses have been cost-prohibitive in terms of preventing the units from becoming readily commercially available. Unlike those units just referred to, the present unit is simple of construction, inexpensive and easy to install as well as being extremely safe.
An even more specific object of the invention is to provide a liquid activatable alarm pad which activates an alarm when the patient's body pressure against the mattress is no longer present.
An even further object is to provide such a liquid activatable alarm which has a check valve which will prevent activation of the alarm by mere shifting of the patient's body in bed.
An even further object of this invention is to provide a liquid activatable alarm pad which is capable of using the most inexpensive fluid, water, as the pressure responsive liquid.
The means of accomplishing each of these objectives, as well as others, will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention which follows.